Bluegrass Menagerie:A Dinner To Toast Zachary Quinto

The 2014 Oscars race may be just getting under way, but some talk has already turned to next year’s Tony Awards—and one Tony, in particular. Last night’s dinner guests at Clement, an intimate restaurant on the Peninsula hotel’s second floor, seemed unanimous: the category for Best Actor in a Leading Role in a Play is the predetermined territory of Zachary Quinto.

Quinto’s performance in the latest revival of The Glass Menagerie has warranted The New York Times’Ben Brantley to deem him “the finest Tom I’ve ever seen” and was the occasion for yesterday’s celebration, hosted by interior design partners Glenn Pushelberg and George Yabu, who designed Clement. Monique Péan, Constance Jablonski, CFDA/Vogue Fashion Fund finalist Misha Nonoo and her husband Alexander Gilkes were among the guests that came to congratulate Quinto, though one or two admitted to yet having witnessed his Broadway debut. “I bought tickets before I accepted this invitation, but they’re not until January,” one friend admitted sheepishly. “Good tickets were impossible to get!”

When conversation shifted to Quinto’s current hometown of Los Angeles, from where Nonoo and Gilkes have just returned after Fashion Fund festivities, Péan pulled out her iPhone to give a virtual tour of the much-celebrated John Lautner house that has served as a set for everything from The BigLebowski to a Daft Punk photo shoot, and now belongs to James Goldstein.

Just after the first course of seared fluke and autumn salad, Pushelberg raised his glass, proclaiming Quinto “a TV star turned accomplished film actor and now a bright light of Broadway. But more than that . . . it’s his kindness, his generosity, his sincerity. He’s a great person. Here’s to Zach Quinto.”

When the dessert plates were cleared and most guests were preparing to go home—it was a Monday night, after all—Quinto was just gearing up. The first weeknight is the only evening the theater is dark, which means the actor gets a night to himself. “I have two standing appointments on Mondays: a two-hour massage and a banjo lesson.” And with that, he was off to see some live bluegrass at the East Village bar, Mona‘s. “You should all come; it goes until three.”